The Doctor and the Death Boy
by Fangirlfromhogwarts
Summary: Solangelo. From three days in the infirmary, to becoming boyfriends, the story of how Nico di Angelo and Will Solace got together.


**Author's Note: Yay, my second story, which also happens to be Solangelo. This one, however, takes place in the six months between Blood of Olympus and the Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle.**

 **As usual, I don't own the Percy Jackson franchise and constructive criticism is strongly encouraged while hate without reasoning is frowned upon. Hope you enjoy!  
**

"So three days in the infirmary?" Nico confirmed as he joined Will again after his little conversation with Percy and Annabeth. He was desperately hoping that his face wasn't as flushed as it felt. Though he wasn't into Percy anymore, coming out to him was still challenging and walking back to Will Solace didn't exactly calm his nerves.

"It will be fun," Will said, nodding. "Just promise me you won't shadow travel at all until I say so, which will probably be in a few weeks. It really is quite taxing on your health." Nico rolled his eyes and groaned. A few weeks without shadow traveling seemed impossible. What would he do if he needed a break from the chaos of camp or if his father summoned him?

"Whatever," Nico finally said, "let's go." Will hesitantly touched Nico's shoulder as he guided him towards the infirmary, acting as if he would pass out at any moment. Nico didn't push him away but he didn't lean into his touch either. They bickered a little more about the health risks of shadow traveling before Nico sighed in defeat before walking the rest of the way in silence. Will was just too stubborn.

"So we're here," Will finally said. "I was thinking of giving you a private room in the back. How does that sound? I fear that there will be too much commotion in the main infirmary for you to heal properly."

"What do mean 'heal properly'? I'm fine Will," Nico said. Ok, truth is Nico knew exactly what Will meant. He was fully aware of the fact that he faded into almost nothingness every time he shadow travelled, but he, the all powerful Son of Hades, wasn't about to admit his weaknesses to Will, whom he was starting to develop the tiniest crush on.

"Nico, you know what I mean," Will groaned. "Reyna specifically asked me to make sure you recover from hauling that statue across the ocean. A little rest never hurt anyone. So, private room it is?"

"Fine. I'll take the private room," Nico snapped. This was not what he bargained for. He was expecting 3 days of alone time and seeing Will twice a day or so, not constant supervision and orders from Reyna.

"Come on," Will said. He led Nico in through the back door and set up a bed for him. Nico sat down it and crossed his arms sternly across his chest. He gave Will a menacing glare, something that was hard for him to do considering he found Will pretty adorable.

"I already said this, but I do not need medical attention," he said. "I can use my underworld powers just fine and I would watch out if I were you. Here, I'll prove it." Nico stood up, uncrossed his arms and raised his hands, concentrating intently. The ground rumbled and the light dimmed a little before Will shoved him back into a sitting position.

"Oh my gods, Nico. No!" Will shrieked when he saw what Nico was doing. "You will not kill yourself doing something stupid under my watch." Will ran over to his patient and grabbed both his hands to prevent him from fading into the shadows. He tried to keep a straight face as an electric current flowed up his arms and settled in his heart. Nico seemed to feel the current  
too, as he pulled away immediately. "I can't have yourself hurting yourself like this," he sighed.

"Will, I'm not hurting myself. I honestly don't mind spending time here with you, but I don't think I need anything more than a quick nap," Nico said, blushing slightly. The Son of Apollo sat down beside him and placed his hands on Nico's shoulders, which caused him blush more.

"Yes, you are. It's not up for debate. I can feel darkness radiating off of you. 3 days of rest and we can start hanging out outside of the infirmary," Will said sternly. Nico was near speechless; Will was holding him close and actually wanting to hang out him. That wasn't something he experienced everyday. "You'll still be eating meals with the rest of the camp though," he added casually brushing Nico's hair out of his eyes. Nico blushed more, if that was even possible, and mumbled something about needing ambrosia.

"What was that, Death Boy? Are you in pain? Here take some of this," Will cooed, getting up and walking towards the medicine cabinet. He opened up a packet of nectar and placed it on a spoon to feed Nico. Nico ate it slowly, letting the warmth seep through him, as he watched Will fix his hair in the mirror. He let out a small chuckle when Will tried and failed to flatten his cowlick, and it was the closest he'd come to laughing in months.

"Ok, as much as I hate to go, you need rest and I have other patients to tend to," Will said. He gave Nico a quick little hug before leaving the room. A second later the door popped open and Will stuck his head back in and said, "I expect you to be at every meal and to join me during camp activities like camp fires and capture the flag."

Nico nodded as Will left the room for real this time and snuggled up in the bed. He figured he might as well admit to himself that he liked Will. The skeletal butterflies in his stomach never really went away and his heart raced every time Will touched him. There was no point in suppressing his feelings anymore; it didn't work when he was into Percy and he was becoming more comfortable with his sexuality. It didn't seem like something to be embarrassed of anymore. Besides he felt like he actually had a chance with Will because he wasn't part of the Camp Half-Blood power couple like Percy was. Not to mention he was cute. With prospects of Will Solace entering his love life, Nico fell into a long, peaceful sleep.

What seemed like a second later, Nico was woken by Will rapping on the door. He reluctantly got out of bed to open it and was a little overwhelmed when he saw much food Will had brought him.

"Oh. Did I miss lunch?" he said awkwardly, remembering the promise he made to attend every meal.

"Yeah, but it's okay. You were catching up on much needed rest. I came and checked your vital signs about an hour ago and you were out cold but otherwise doing fine," Will said. "As you can see, I brought you an enchilada and I expect you to eat it all," he added gesturing to the platter he brought him.

Nico reluctantly took a bite of the giant enchilada and asked Will the question that has been on his mind since the battle with Gaea. "Why do you want to be friends with me? Most people don't because I'm such a dark person."

Now it was Will's turn to blush. He was slightly taken aback, and honestly a little surprised that Nico worked up the nerve to ask such a personal question. "Well," he said at last, "I think you're actually a really cool person and I wanted to get to know you better for a while. As for the excessive healing, I'm a medic and it's in my nature." That didn't even begin to cover Will's feelings for the Son of Hades, but Nico seemed satisfied with his answer. Maybe someday he would tell him the truth.

"You know most people try to avoid me like the plague."

"Nico, if you were the plague, I would be the first one there trying to cure it," Will said gently. "Even if you were perfectly healthy, I would still be there for you." With that, Will made sure Nico finished his food, took his blood pressure, and prescribed him one block of ambrosia every hour he was awake to help him gain his strength back. They sat there talking about camp life for a little while and it wasn't until Will's sister, Kayla, knocked on the door did the Son of Apollo leave.

"Hey Will!" Kayla snapped. She had been working all day with virtually no help with the patients. "Glad to see Nico is getting some tender loving care, but there are still patients who need medical attention from the battle and I can't handle it all."

Will got up sheepishly. "Bye Nico. You better be at dinner." He glared at him as he said the last part before going to help Kayla. Nico sighed and watched Will leave before forcing himself to fall asleep again. The room felt cold and depressing now that Will was gone, despite the yellow walls and sunlight streaming through the open windows. Not wanting to dwell on his thoughts any longer, he said a quick prayer to his father before drifting off.

Three hours later, Nico woke to loud conversation outside the infirmary and he knew it was time for dinner. He got out of bed and for the first time since the battle he felt refreshed and motivated to go outside. He headed over to the dining pavilion and ran into Jason right outside.

"Hey man, what's up?" Jason said. "Will told me you are resting up in the infirmary. How's that going?"

Nico shuddered a little at the idea of Will talking about him behind his back but he remained collected for Jason's sake. "Yeah, I feel pretty good. It's amazing what six hours of napping can do to a person," Nico responded.

"Agreed. I should probably destress sometime too. Take Piper to a spa or something. She'll like that…" Jason trailed off. He talked about Piper dreamily for another minute or two before bringing the conversation back to Nico. "For real, how are you doing? All that shadow traveling can't be good for you."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. You're starting to sound like Will."

Jason perked up a little bit. "Speaking of which, how are things going between you two? I don't know him too well, but he seems nice and I heard he's a great healer," he said.

"That pretty much sums him up," Nico said. Yes, Jason was one of his best friends but Nico was feeling pretty done with this conversation to be honest. "Well, see you later." Nico joined the line for food but Jason followed right behind him.

"Hey. Join me and Piper for dinner," Jason said. "You missed the announcement that Chiron made at lunch saying that we can sit at whatever table we want for the time being."

"Uh, okay," Nico responded, not enthusiastic about being a third wheel. But since Jason and Piper were so nice to him he couldn't exactly say no.

Suddenly Will Solace popped up beside them. "Wow, Nico, I'm surprised actually motivated yourself to come to dinner with everyone else," he said, which earned him a deadly glare from Nico. "Anyway, you're welcome to join me, Lou Ellen, and Cecil."

Nico looked awkwardly between Will and Jason. He wasn't used to being wanted in more than one place at once. "Jason already asked me to sit with him and Piper," he said. Will was crestfallen; he wasn't expecting that he would have to compete for Nico.

"Oh Will, of course you and your friends can join us. The more the merrier, right?" Jason chimed in. Will happily agreed after confirming with Kayla that his younger siblings needed no additional supervision at the Apollo table.

They sat down at a table near the edge of the pavilion. Will sat next to Nico and, without asking, he got up and got Nico a large plate of food as well as himself. Nico, of course, turned bright red out of embarrassment.

"Will, you know I don't like salad," he whined. Will just smirked and moved the plate closer to him.

"It's healthy Nico. Jason eats salad and look at how great he looks. I bet he could fly to the moon if he wanted to," Will said. Jason buried his face in his hands at the cheesiness and mumbled something to Piper. Nico reluctantly took a bite of lettuce. The salad actually wasn't that bad but he would have definitely preferred a hamburger or some chicken nuggets. As for Jason, he wasn't eating healthy to impress him or anything. He was taken and Nico didn't find him as attractive as a certain Son of Apollo. Jason invited some Romans to sit with them as well and for the rest of the meal they discussed the similarities and differences between the two camps. Will was always checking in on Nico and making sure he was always included in the conversation. For Nico, it was stressful at first, but in the end he decided socializing with others was kinda fun and he was glad Will made him get outside.

The second day was much like the first. Nico overslept, which Will feared was going to become a habit. Nico was then babied a little bit and Kayla once again snapped Will for spending too much time with him. This time, however, Nico got some visitors after his mid afternoon snooze.

"Wake up Nico!" Someone said loudly, shaking him awake.

"Ugh, Will, I'm tired. Just bring me some dinner later," Nico groaned, pulling the sheet over his face.

The intruder pulled the sheet back and turned on the lamp. "Do I look like Will to you?" He laughed.

Nico covered his flushed face once again in embarrassment. "Uh, no…" he stammered. After an awkward moment of silence, he finally peeked at Jason and Percy, who had a chocolate milkshake. They each pulled up a chair and soon enough they were all engaged in a conversation. Well, Percy and Jason were engaged in a conversation while Nico sipped the milkshake and commented occasionally. It wasn't until Percy and Jason started bragging about their girlfriends to each other did Nico kick them out.

"Enough, this conversation is no longer relevant to me so I'm going back to bed," Nico snapped. Percy and Jason exchanged an awkward glance; Nico's sexual orientation was still a touchy subject and they didn't want to rub it in or make him upset by bringing it up at the wrong time. They said their good byes and Nico went back to his back to what he spent a majority of his time doing, sleeping. He didn't have any sleeping draught, but he surprisingly found himself nodding off at all hours of the day, an unusual trait for a demigod.

When Will came in to say good night, Nico was already in a deep sleep, so he gave him a quick little hug before scurrying off, hoping no one saw.

"Good morning everyone," Will sang as he danced through the infirmary at the crack of dawn the next day. A few of the other children of Apollo who were on duty perked up a little bit, but most of the patients just groaned and rolled over in bed to go back to sleep. Nico glared at Will before burying his face in his pillow to shield it from the sunlight Will was letting into the room by aggressively opening the curtains.

"Hey Nico, I got news for you," Will said when he approached Nico's bed. Nico grumbled something about it being too early but Will ignored it and kept on talking. "Since you're recovering quicker than expected, I have decided that you can help me out around the infirmary if you don't feel like staying in bed all day."

Nico sat up, surprised by this announcement. "Uh, yeah, that sounds okay," he stuttered.

"Really? I'll have you start by organizing the first aid cabinet after breakfast," Will said happily. He gave him a quick hug before walking off to finish his morning rounds. Nico stood there frozen by the electrifying physical contact, but he secretly liked it too.

After a hearty breakfast of eggs and toast, Nico stood in front of a giant cabinet overflowing with bandages and antiseptic wipes. The size of the cabinet was actually a little overwhelming. There must be enough band aids in here to cover Mt. Olympus, he thought.

Luckily, Will soon came to his rescue. "Are you okay?" He asked urgently, "you look like you're about to faint. Are you sure you don't need to lie down?" He grabbed Nico's wrist, which sent a tingle up his arm, and started checking his pulse.

"I'm fine," Nico snapped, "just tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, you can start by putting godly stuff, like ambrosia and nectar, on the bottom shelf. Then you can put the bandages on the next two shelves and alphabetize the medicine on the top shelf," Will said. Nico picked up a bottle of some ibuprofen/nectar mixture and put it on the top shelf. He didn't know such a thing even existed, but he was relieved to know it was there if he needed it.

After three hours, Nico was hungry and fatigued, but the work was oddly satisfying and he definitely preferred it to sitting in bed like a helpless baby.

"You're did great, can't believe you're already done," Will said, suddenly appearing an Nico's side. Nico let out a yelp and Will laughed heartily. "Relax, Nico. It's just me." Nico shrugged and could have sworn Will blushed the tiniest bit.

"No problem," Nico said. "It was nice to actually do something. But since I'm not bed ridden anymore, can I leave after lunch?"

"You promised me three days," Will responded, "it's only been two and a half. Besides I can use your help healing this afternoon."

Nico rolled his eyes, though on the inside he was pleased to spend more time with Will. He was a bit skeptical of his healing abilities though, and was starting to question Will's judgment. First, he wanted to be his friend, then he hugged Nico with out a second thought, and now he wanted Nico to help with healing, the last thing he was good at. Maybe Nico wasn't such a dark person after all.

That afternoon, Will would go down the row of hospital beds and hum a little hymn to mend everything from broken bones, to lava wall burns, to migraines. Nico would trail behind and wrap bandages.

"Hey, death boy, can you give Harley from the Hephaestus cabin some nectar please?" Will said.

Once again Nico rolled his eyes. "Don't call me that, especially when I'm trying to heal people," he snapped. He grabbed the bottle of nectar out of the cabinet and poured a few drops into a medicine cup.

"Oh, you're going to need way more than that," Will said, glancing over.

"But won't his insides burn up if we give him too much or something like that," Nico said. "He's so young."

"Yeah, but Harley got some pretty nasty cuts and burns from a rogue piece of machinery. Give him a tablespoon to start," Will replied. Nico looked at the cup quizzically; there were no measurement marking on it. Will walked over and grasped his wrist, helping him pour the proper amount. Nico's wrist jerked out of surprise and a few drops of nectar splashed on the floor.

"You alright?" Will asked, concerned.

"Yeah, just nervous," Nico mumbled.

"What are you nervous about? Harley will be alright."

"Nothing," Nico snapped, trying to suppress the skeletal butterflies that one again decided to have a party in his stomach. Will let the subject drop and they got back to work.

"Well, we're about to be late to dinner," Will said at 5:57. "It was great working with you today, and I'll check in on your health again in a week."

"Yeah," Nico said, heading for the door.

"See you tomorrow," Will said, running after Nico. He gave him another hug and once again they blushed.

"Wait, my three days are over," Nico retorted.

"Well, I still expect to see you around. We're friends, right?" Will said with a smile. Nico gave a slight nod, still woozy from the butterflies. "Good night."

With that, they headed to dinner and then back to their respective cabins for bed.

~

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. The next chapter will be up soon and will have more action in it, I just wanted to set the scene with the three days in the infirmary first.**


End file.
